The Working Dad
by Stratagem
Summary: Levi takes the kids to work.


Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan!

A/N: THE NEW SEASON IS OUT, LET THE FANDOM REJOICE! Btw, Remy is 5 and Ava is a few months old in this one.

A Working Dad

The babysitter was sick. Hanji was on an away mission. And Levi had to work.

That's how he had ended up standing in front of a batch of new recruits with Ava riding in a sling against his chest and Remy standing between him and Connie Springer, the trainer for the current group of newbies.

The day had started with the babysitter's sister coming to the door and telling Levi that her sister was ill and wouldn't be able to come to the house to watch Ava and Remy. The moment she left, Levi had sanitized the doorway and resigned himself to his fate over a cup of tea.

It occurred to him while the steam was curling up from his cup that there should have been a secondary plan in place for situations like this. He and Hanji should have foreseen that there would be an occasion where no one was available to watch the kids and whoever wasn't on a mission would have to take them to work. They would have to figure out a contingency plan for events like this in the future.

Today, however, he just had to deal with it.

Getting them up and getting them ready had been relatively easy. Ava was a squirmy and noisy baby by nature, but she stayed asleep as Levi transferred her from the bed to the baby sling he had found in his and Hanji's room. Remy put up some fuss at being woken up so early, and he was grumpy as he stabbed the hard-boiled egg Levi put down on his plate.

"Annette makes griddlecakes and oatmeal with honey on it," Remy said, obviously insinuating that Levi's cooking was vastly inferior.

Levi leveled his son with a stare. "Do you want to eat?"

Remy stabbed his fork into the egg and nodded.

"Then that's what you're getting to eat. Otherwise you can wait and eat at lunch." He wasn't going to kowtow to his five-year-old, especially when the egg he had served him was completely adequate. Plus, he wasn't going to raise picky-eaters, not when he had grown up eating garbage in the underground. He would make sure his kids never dealt with that kind of hungry, but he was also make sure they were never snobs.

In her sling, Ava made a gurgling noise, catching Levi's attention. Her grey-blue eyes were opened, and she was waving a hand around while burbling insistently. Bottle. Right. He stoked the fire in the stove so he could use the stove top and then looked in the icebox for goat's milk.

"Where's Annette?" Remy asked.

"She's sick today," Levi said, heating up the bottle, "So you're going to work with me."

"What? Really?!" Remy asked. His mouth fell open and a piece of egg dribbled onto the table, making Levi scowl. Remy immediately swiped it up with a napkin. "But aren't you going to the training camp today? You said you were last night, are you going?"

"I told Springer I would take a look at his recruits, so yeah. I am."

"Yes!" Remy said with quiet, muffled excitement. He bounced in his seat and gobbled down the rest of his egg before jumping out of the chair. "Can we go now? Let's go."

"Hold on, stop running around, Trouble," Levi said, avoiding his son crashing into him as he tried to feed his daughter. When both of the kids were fed, he gathered everything he would need to keep the two of them occupied and happy. Maybe he would be able to only spend an hour or so at the training grounds and then go back to headquarters for the rest of the day.

If he was back at headquarters, he could order Eren or Armin or someone to babysit. Normally he would just make Connie or Sasha do it since they liked to be lazy when they weren't being useful, but they had taken up the training assignment this year.

With a bag of snacks and toys and the necessities for Ava, he headed out the door and toward the nearby stables, where he saddled up a horse. Remy asked a thousand questions about the Survey Corps that he already knew the answer to while Ava made little noises.

"Can I ride, too?" Remy asked, looking up at the horse. "My own horse?"

"You can ride with me," Levi said. He picked up Remy and sat him down on the horse's back before climbing on behind him. He checked that Ava was secure in her sling and saw her staring up at him. He reached into the sling and ran his thumb over her forehead. "Stay calm."

"When can I ride my own horse?" Remy glanced back at Levi as a couple surprised officers saluted them at the stable's doorway. Levi looped one arm around Remy to hold him tight as they headed off toward the training grounds.

"Later."

About an hour later, plus one break to get Ava to calm down from a crying spell, they were outside of their district and in the countryside. The training grounds and barracks spread out in front of them, a series of buildings and training apparatus close to a nearby forest that was perfect for ODM practice.

"Can we see the Titan dummies?" Remy asked, his hands threading into the gelding's short mane. The horse was patient but he did snort at the kid's antics.

"Maybe," Levi said, "If you're not a pain."

"I won't be, promise," Remy said, smirking up at Levi.

They rode into the training grounds, going straight to the main office. One of the recruits rushed over to take the horse by the reins, but instead Levi handed Remy to the girl.

"Here, watch that," he said.

"Sir?" the recruit said, holding Remy at arm's length until he started to squirm. Then she had to pull him against her in an awkward hug, like she was holding a cat.

"Just hold him for a moment."

"Put me down," Remy demanded, twisting about.

Levi dismounted and patted Ava's bundle. She was still making little grumpy noises; she really hadn't liked the horseback ride. It had been agonizingly slow, switching between walking and cantering so as to not jostle the kids too much, but they had finally made it.

"Captain!" Connie exclaimed as he walked out of the main office.

Remy finally wriggled his way free from the recruit, and he raced over to Connie, leaping on the short, wiry man. "Connie!"

"Well, hey, squirt," Connie said, catching him in mid-leap. He smirked over at Levi. "I didn't know it was a bring-your-kids-to-work day."

"Shut up, Springer," Levi said, "They're here. Deal with it."

"I can find someone to watch them while you inspect the troops…"

"No," Levi said. He didn't trust people he didn't know to watch his children, even if they were military recruits. There were too many people who didn't like him. Plus, strangers carried unknown grime and diseases, and he wasn't exposing his kids to that. "They'll go with me."

"You're sure?"

The look Levi gave Connie said that the discussion was over. Connie put his hands behind his head and gave a low whistle.

"This'll be fun."

And that's how Levi Ackerman wound up in front of a whole class of recruits with a baby and a five-year-old in tow, the most serious look on his face even though he was wearing a baby sling.


End file.
